Guardians Of Time - Rage And Fire review
| Band: | Guardians Of Time |
| Album: | Rage And Fire |
| Style: | Power metal |
| Release date: | May 11, 2015 |
| A review by: | Belegûr |
01. Praeludium In Ferrum Pectore
02. Iron Heart
03. Empire
04. Euphoria
05. Save Me
06. Tomorrow Never Comes
07. Standing Tall
08. Primevil
09. End Of Days
10. Core
11. Rage And Fire
Norway isn't well-known for power metal when compared to neighbours Sweden, but Guardians Of Time are more than capable of matching the quality of just about any power metal band on the scene today. This is the fourth studio album, released after their return in 2011, and it is easily a contender for power metal album of the year. A Beautiful Atrocity showed a change in style for the band, with a more progressive quality to the music. However it would be completely wrong of me to say that the band has ever written generic power metal as I think they have already created a signature sound that makes them instantly recognisable over many other bands in the genre. Rage And Fire isn't as progressive as their previous effort, but it is heavy, melodic and catchy from start to finish.
It is relentless and rarely slows down, offering track after track that would be fitting for any setlist Guardians Of Time takes on tour. The Middle-Eastern-themed "Empire" is as close as the band comes to producing a ballad here and it is an Iced Earth-style mid-tempo headbanging anthem. It is obvious that all the members are skilled and capable of highly technical music, but this doesn't stop just about every song from having memorable hooks and melodies. It has been a while since I have heard a power metal release that has so many sing-along choruses. If you are looking for melodic power metal with heavy double bass drumming and Pyramaze-style riffs and melodies, then this is the album for you. Tracks such as "Tomorrow Never Comes" and "Core" reminded me of Helloween, and "Save Me" begins with a Rob Halford-style scream. "Primevil" reminded me of earlier Primal Fear albums - a negative for some, but I see it as praise for the quality of music on show.
I can hear many influences and the album does match the style of 2004's Machines Of Mental Design in some ways. Even with these influences, Rage And Fire still sounds like Guardians Of Time and that's helped by the vocals of Bernt Fjellestad, which do not really sound like any other vocalist I have heard in this genre. He puts in another impressive performance on this album. The guitars are also impressive and the fast solos never seem out of place or just shoved into the song for the sake of it.
Rage And Fire is another strong album from one of the most underrated bands in power metal. It is easy to recommend this to fans who are perhaps disappointed in the more recent work of bands such as Helloween, Iced Earth and Gamma Ray. This album is the one that really should propel them to the next level. It is accessible while never sounding completely generic. It is heavy, very melodic and every track is capable of becoming a live anthem. Many big players are releasing or have released power metal albums in 2015, but it is the unknown Guardians Of Time who have produced the go-to power metal album of the year.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Belegûr | 26.06.2015
Comments
Comments: 14
Visited by: 321 users
| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62004  |
I dunno this band, I will try out, nice writing style
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| Metashadow8 Posts: 89  |
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365  |
Written by Metashadow8 on 27.06.2015 at 03:27 Nice one! They need more people to listen to them 
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| Ag Fox Angel No More Elite Posts: 4774  |
Okay. You've got my hopes up pretty high. Let's see how it turns out
---- loves 小巫
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| jtowne1968 Account deleted |
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by [user id=156071] on 28.06.2015 at 02:02 Great praise indeed . Were you planning on getting this album anyway or was it because of reviews you have read? Very happy to love the album. It's certainly my favourite album of the year so far!
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| jtowne1968 Account deleted |
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| Mountain King K i K o Posts: 1361  |
Worth trying out, but who's disappointed with Helloween or Gamma Ray's latest releases? They are really good. As for Iced Earth, I never liked them that much...
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by Mountain King on 28.06.2015 at 21:15 Opinions. I thought it would be obvious when I say that the latest Helloween and Gamma Ray releases were disappointing that I am counting myself in that group for one. Also read the Metal Storm review of the latest Helloween release and you will see that the reviewer also thought it was pretty average.
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| Mountain King K i K o Posts: 1361 |
Written by Belegûr on 28.06.2015 at 21:19 Yes opinions of course, but I like it myself although it's not their best but I didn't feel it got really bad reviews in general...
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by Mountain King on 28.06.2015 at 22:58 Again though, I never claimed anything of the sort. I said : "It is easy to recommend this to fans who are perhaps disappointed in the more recent work of bands such as Helloween, Iced Earth and Gamma Ray." Meaning that for those disappointed in the recent releases of said bands (like me), this one will maybe be more enjoyable for you.
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by deadone on 30.06.2015 at 05:14 I do understand your point. I suppose if generic sounding bands like Sabaton and Powerwolf can be considered big bands in power metal, then I was saying that a band like Guardians of Time should really be more popular. They have like 3000 fans on Facebook or something and are virtually unknown. I love all 4 of their albums and think they at least deserve better than where they are. Remember, by next level I don't mean to the heights of juggernauts like Gamma Ray etc, they have a long way to go before that, but at least better than an unknown power metal band. They are far better than that. That's pretty much what i meant. Also like I said in my review, originality isn't a 10, but I can hear that it's Guardians of Time and it's still different to what they have done in previous albums. That itself is something to admire as other bands I've mentioned just live off copying their old songs over and over again. Anyway, that's my point 
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| Joe Zombie Posts: 540  |
Now this is some power metal I can really get into. Loving the melodies.
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| Belegûr Arise In Might! Posts: 365 |
Written by deadone on 30.06.2015 at 08:17 Well that a was a time that even when these big bands were trying something different, it was still interesting. Blind Guardian made A NIght At The Opera which was even "bigger" than Nightfall. Helloween were doing The Dark Ride which is probably their last really really good album in my opinion (15 Years ago!!). Falconer appeared, Rhapsody made Dawn of Victory, Avantasia had a Metal Opera, Sonata were making power metal, Kamelot weren't completely boring. Sigh, what happened to the genre? So many big bands are releasing complete crap now. I nearly fell asleep during Gamma Ray and Helloweens last efforts. These are the two bands that got me into the genre and were unstoppable for years. I think Land of the Free > No World Order is probably the best group of PM albums, alongside Blind Guardian from 90 to 2002 I'll stop the rant
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